Creamy Ham Peas and Pasta

Creamy Ham Peas and Pasta is a quick-cooking dinner recipe your complete household will love. A easy parmesan-garlic cream sauce coats cooked pasta, frozen peas, and diced ham. Straightforward, scrumptious, and cooks within the time it takes to boil a field of pasta.

creamy pasta ham and peas in a bowlcreamy pasta ham and peas in a bowl

With a number of actions on the calendar every night time of the week, I’m greater than ever on the lookout for fast and family-friendly (learn: my children will like it) recipes for dinner.

Enter: Creamy Ham Peas and Pasta.

This straightforward, creamy pasta with ham and peas is filling, completely scrumptious, and a full meal in a bowl. I created the recipe as a approach to make use of up leftover Easter ham, however you can also make it any time of 12 months with thick-cut ham steak, which we all the time appear to have readily available. I like cubing it up for lunchboxes – I’ll share my favourite model beneath.

Like a quick-cooking do-it-yourself mac and cheese, this straightforward dinner recipe cooks in the identical period of time it takes to boil a field of pasta. Whats up, weeknight dinner hero!

bowl of creamy pasta with ham and peasbowl of creamy pasta with ham and peas

Elements Wanted

All you want are a handful of on a regular basis substances to make this creamy pasta dish. Raid the fridge and pantry for…

  • Pasta: I like Jovial brown rice Casarecce for this dish, however any medium-cut pasta like penne, bowties, rotini, and many others will do the trick.
  • Ham steak: use leftover vacation ham, or cube up a store-bought ham steak – I like Frick’s model. A high quality model of ham actually does make a distinction!
  • Garlic: permeates every chew with cozy taste.
  • Peas: use frozen candy peas – no have to thaw first.
  • Heavy cream: is the bottom of our dreamy, creamy sauce.
  • Parmesan cheese: freshly grate the parmesan with a microplane so it immediately melts into the cream sauce, vs utilizing pre-grated.
ingredients for creamy pasts ham and peasingredients for creamy pasts ham and peas

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Why You’ll Love this Recipe

  1. Quick: together with prep and prepare dinner time, Creamy Ham Peas and Pasta will go from fridge to desk in below half-hour. Plus, because it has protein, carbs, and veggies, it’s a full meal in a bowl — no further sides wanted.
  2. Household pleasant: in case your children are something like mine, pasta is an computerized YES for dinner. Additionally they love ham and peas (bless them as a result of I grew up HATING peas) plus the cream sauce offers it a comfy mac and cheese vibe.
  3. Versatile: I take advantage of gluten free pasta, however you should utilize no matter medium-cut pasta you’ve received within the pantry. This dish is as unfussy because it will get! If that you must eat dairy free, go for vegan butter, plant-based heavy cream, and vegan parmesan cheese.
  4. Traditional: because of butter, garlic, cream, and parmesan cheese, this recipe is complete consolation meals and proves you don’t want a ton of substances to make an excellent satisfying dish. Simply the appropriate combo of easy ones.

Alrighty, able to get this straightforward pasta dish on the desk?

bowls of pasta with ham and peasbowls of pasta with ham and peas

Serve with Air Fryer Asparagus

Find out how to Make This Recipe

Step 1: Prepare dinner the pasta.

Begin by including a beneficiant palmful of salt to a big pot of boiling water then add pasta and prepare dinner till it’s simply shy of al dente. The pasta will end cooking within the parmesan cream sauce.

Recipe Tip

Salting the water you prepare dinner your pasta in will infuse the pasta with taste because it cooks. You possibly can REALLY style a distinction within the ultimate dish!

box of gluten free pastabox of gluten free pasta

Earlier than draining the pasta, fastidiously scoop out a cup or so of the pasta cooking water so as to add to the sauce on the finish. This serves 2 functions:

  1. The salted water seasons the dish.
  2. The starches within the water assist the parmesan-cream sauce cling to the pasta.
pasta cooking water in a dishpasta cooking water in a dish

Step 2: Cube the ham.

Subsequent, cube up a 1lb bone-in ham steak. Once more, I extremely suggest Frick’s. Leftovers out of your vacation ham are excellent too.

You’ll want ~12oz of diced ham steak, which is round 2-1/2 cups.

Step 3: Saute the ham and peas.

Soften butter inside a big skillet with excessive sides over medium-high warmth. Add the diced ham then saute till it’s scorching, 3-4 minutes. Subsequent add minced garlic then saute till aromatic, one other minute (your kitchen will scent insane proper about now!)

Add frozen peas then saute till they’re scorching, 1-2 further minutes.

skillet of ham and peasskillet of ham and peas

Step 4: Make the cream sauce.

To the skillet add heavy whipping cream then carry to a simmer and prepare dinner for 2-3 minutes or till the cream has barely decreased and thickened.

Lastly, add freshly grated parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper then stir to soften the cheese into the sauce.

skillet of ham and pea cream sauceskillet of ham and pea cream sauce

Step 5: Mix the pasta and sauce.

Add the pasta into the skillet with with a splash of pasta cooking water then prepare dinner whereas stirring till the pasta is tender and the sauce clings to the pasta, 4-5 minutes.

Let the pasta sit and the sauce thicken for about 5 minutes, then dish it on up!

creamy ham and pea pasta in a skilletcreamy ham and pea pasta in a skillet

That’s all she wrote!

Leftovers reheat completely in a bowl within the microwave — and really, style actually good chilly.

Regardless of when or the way you make it, I hope you like each chew of this unbelievable and straightforward Creamy Ham and Peas Pasta – take pleasure in!

creamy pasta with ham and peas in a bowlcreamy pasta with ham and peas in a bowl

Extra Straightforward Household-Pleasant Recipes

  • 12 oz medium-cut pasta, casarecce, rotini, penne, or bowties really helpful
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 2-1/2 cups (12oz) diced ham steak, from a 1lb bone-in ham steak
  • 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
  • 1-1/4 cups frozen candy peas
  • 1 cup (1/2 pint) heavy cream
  • 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • salt and pepper
  • Convey a big pot of salted water to a boil then add the pasta and prepare dinner till it’s simply shy of al dente – the pasta will end cooking fully within the sauce. Earlier than draining: fastidiously scoop out 1 cup pasta cooking water then drain the pasta and set it apart.

  • In the meantime, soften the butter in a big skillet with excessive sides over medium-high warmth. Add the ham then saute till scorching, 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic then saute till very aromatic, 1 minute. Add the peas then saute till scorching, 1-2 minutes.

  • Add the heavy creamy then carry to a simmer whereas stirring always. As soon as simmering, flip the warmth down barely then prepare dinner whereas stirring till the cream has barely thickened and decreased, 2-3 minutes. Add the parmesan cheese then stir to mix.

  • Add the drained pasta plus a splash of pasta cooking water (begin with 2-3 Tablespoons) into the skillet then prepare dinner whereas stirring till the pasta is cooked by means of and the sauce clings to the pasta, 4-5 minutes. Add extra pasta cooking water as wanted to prepare dinner the pasta by means of and create a light-weight sauce. Add pepper and a bit salt then let the dish sit and the sauce thicken for five minutes earlier than serving. The pasta will proceed to soak up the sauce because it cools.

Energy: 544kcal, Carbohydrates: 50g, Protein: 26g, Fats: 26g, Saturated Fats: 15g, Polyunsaturated Fats: 2g, Monounsaturated Fats: 7g, Trans Fats: 0.2g, Ldl cholesterol: 95mg, Sodium: 1057mg, Potassium: 458mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 1075IU, Vitamin C: 31mg, Calcium: 198mg, Iron: 2mg

Dietary values are estimates solely. Please learn our full diet info disclaimer.

Photographs by Ashley McLaughlin

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